RAWALPINDI, Dec 8: Though the government has not announced any date for the general elections, the Punjab Board Committee of Chairmen (PBCC) on Saturday revised the schedule for Secondary School Certificate (SSC), examination which will now be held from March 2.

Earlier, the examination was scheduled to be held from March 23 but the date was brought back after the government announced on Saturday that the assemblies would be dissolved by March 16.

“Since assemblies would be dissolved on March 16, we set March 2 as new date of examination so that we can spare teachers for polling duty,” Arsalan Cheema, the spokesman for the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Rawalpindi told Dawn on Saturday.

The students have been informed about the new date and advised to deposit examination fee by December 24.

The PBCC in a hurriedly-convened meeting gave new date for the examination that would be held in all the nine examination boards of Punjab including Rawalpindi division simultaneously.

He said to facilitate the students in depositing their fee, 54 centres had been set up in the division in this regard.

The students were taken aback by the new date as they were preparing for the examination as per old schedule. “It means we should make up our mind for the new date and start preparing for it from today,” Noor Waheed, a student of 10th class told this reporter.

However, the spokesman, Arsalan Cheema, claimed that the revised date of examination would not affect the studies of the students.  “The new date has not been announced at the eleventh hour rather there are still 20 days which are sufficient for the students to prepare for the examination” he said.

Some senior teachers also expressed their reservations over the revised schedule. It was not a logical move to associate elections with the careers of students adding that the more exams got late, the more students would get prepared, they said.

Sagheer Alam, president, Teachers Welfare Association, Rawalpindi division told Dawn that examination could be conducted even during elections adding that the bringing the date back was not  good for a student intending for securing outstanding position in the examination.

Waheeda Shakir, a 9th class student, however, said that she had enough time to revise her course by March 2 adding that she was not perturbed by the revised schedule. “I am all set for examination whether it is held tomorrow or on March 2,” she said.